MILITARY AND CIVIL. 25 
     
    
   
   
    
     them. The armies were thus fast approaching each other when 
     
     Montcalm—who was delivering volley after volley—ordered the 
     
     drummers and trumpeters to sound the charge; his troops 
     
     advanced courageously. When the British opened fire the 
     
     shock was great and deadly, the French could not advance 
     
     another step, they fell back in haste and confusion as the 
     
     foemen pressed forward with the bayonet; and thus the battle 
     
     ended. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Both Commanders fell during the engagement——which lasted 
     
     only a few minutes. Wolfe, who had received three wounds, 
     
     lived sufficiently long to witness the hasty retreat of the enemy, 
     
     when he faintly exclaimed, “ Thank God, I die in peace,” and 
     
     instantly expired. Montcalm was several times wounded and 
     
     died the following morning. When told that his end was 
     
     approaching, he replied, “I am glad, for I shall not witness the 
     
     fall of Quebec, and I wish to spend the night with God.” 
     
    
   
   
    
     On the morning of the 18th, Quebec, the ancient capital of 
     
     New France, surrendered to General Townshend, the officer now 
     
     in command of the British Army, who immediately took posses- 
     
     sion of the immense fortification together with the grand old city, 
     
     of which there is scarcely a foot of ground that is not historic and 
     
     romantic in distinctive associations. In the lower town is the 
     
     site of Champlain’s landing to found his infant colony in the 
     
     New World, and on the lofty heights above are the Plains of 
     
     Abraham, now studded with memorials of Wolfe having died to 
     
     gain a great prize,- of Montcalm, who shed his blood to defend; 
     
     and of French and English heroes who fought on these heights 
     
     and met their fate on the same field. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The taking of Quebec was not the only success destined to - 
     
     attend the British arms this year. Early in July the English, 
     
     under General Prideaux, besieged Fort Niagara, which surren- 
     
     dered on the 25th of the month, and Amherst —the hero of 
     
     Louisburg—with 12,000 men, besides artillery, moved towards 
     
     Lake Champlain, where the French, being unable to resrst such 
     
     a force, evacuated the Forts and retreated to Aux-NOIX. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Having now brought the story of the war to that period 
     
     when, after many changes of fortune, the chances had become 
     
     favourable to the British arms, we Would recall the reader’s 
     
     recollection to the state of affairs in 1760. When, during the 
     
     summer of that year the Marquis of Vandrial, who was the 
     
    

    
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